Timbre
by Cranberriez
Summary: This one's quite interesting. It's about a community living inside a piano, and how their lives differ to ours. It can also be used as a DOMINIC HOWARD LOVE STORY! ...cos I'm that nice :D enjoy xxx
1. Chapter 1

**Timbre**

Inspired by a dream. And George Orwell.

"**Go back! It's not safe here!"**

"**I need to get out of this place. I can't live here any more!"**

"**Dom****. I don't want you to die."**

"**I'm not going to."**

"**Well… I won't let it happen, anyway. I'm coming with you." **

_Taurus:_

_You are a lively person, but be careful today. You don't know who you're dealing with, and you really don't want to cause them offence. Also, beware of the people you trust. Today you will discover a secret is being kept from you. On a brighter note, why not try something new, like a sport, or language?_

I was as bored as it is physically possible to be. Today's room changes had left me with a lovely selection of German, History and yet more German, along with the normal Music lessons, of course. I was sitting out of sight but so I could still hear the teacher, my legs crossed and one elbow resting on one leg, with my head slumped on my hand. The most bored position I could come up with. There was no need for anyone to tell us to be quiet, as we all had to strain to hear anyway, so we shut up for most of the time. But when the bell sounded and we realised it was German _yet_ again, conversations started to spring up. I overheard a rather interesting one.

"Apparently there are four new kids coming in today!"

"Really? How do you know that?"

"Heard one of the adults talking about it."

"How old? Boys or girls? Any names?"

"Our age, two boys, two girls, can't remember any names, probably because they all must've been pretty common."

"Hmmm. Two boys…"

"Lauren, don't terrorize them on their first day. It's gonna be scary enough without _you_ flirting around with them."

And then I zoned out as Lauren and Ben started a ridiculously flirty argument that was literally painful to listen to.

"It's true. He's not just making it up to impress her - for once." My best friend, Carys Scott, scooted over to murmur in my ear. She was shorter than me so she had to crane her neck slightly to speak. She had long, straight black hair that cascaded over her shoulders and an Asian-looking face even though she was British. She was a complete contrast to me, with my fair skin, bright green eyes, and curly auburn hair. She was also very, very shy, and I counted myself lucky to be someone she would tell anything to. Well- _almost_ anything, as I found out later.

"Did you hear them talking about it as well?" I asked. New kids were _not_ very common in this place, especially four at once.

"No, I saw them. Poor things." Carys frowned, and I could almost see the four faces in her eyes.

"When do you think we'll meet them?" I asked, concerned. I knew that was the hardest time for anyone new, meeting the other kids who already knew their way around, and how everything worked. When I was new I remember sticking really close to the adults, who seemed to understand more. The kids were just bossy, bragging loud-mouths who laughed if you didn't know the right thing to say or do – which you didn't. Of course there are always a few kids who remember _their_ horrible first day and are more sympathetic (and I try to be one of those), but they're so scared of the 'hierarchy' system that's formed within us children that they shy away behind the 'more important' kids.

"Next bell. It'll probably be Music next, yeah?" Carys still looked worried, and her bottom lip was bearing the full brunt of her concern.

"Hope so. I've had enough of German. Bloomin' room changes…" I tried to cheer her up, but she was still biting away at her lip. "Carys, what's up? I'm worried for them too, but-"  
"There's something I haven't told you." She said, and then the bell went.

The movement in the classroom we were in caused so much noise that it was impossible to hear your own thoughts, let alone spoken word. Carys was unsure what to do. The fact that she definitely wouldn't be heard for at least another minute, the fact that she couldn't just say what she needed to straight away, made her think twice. Her confidence collapsed like it so often did, and she got up and walked away while the noise was still so loud that I couldn't call after her. I was very annoyed. Carys, not telling me something? I was taken over by the subconscious need to _know_, to gossip, but then an adult walked in and told everyone to sit back down and be quiet. We all obliged without thinking twice; if an adult told you to do something, you did it. Their word was literally law.

"Now. We have four additions to make today, as I'm sure some of you know." She said, and the feel of authority surrounding her automatically lowered our gaze to the floor. "You _will_ respect these children. You _will_ be nice." She paused to let the words sink in. "You will meet them now, and four of you will be assigned to tutor each child to the rules we abide by." There were a few surprised expressions at that, as there had never been one to one tutoring before. The new kids just had to learn by trial and error. I wondered if they were a special case, maybe they had difficulties in learning or understanding things just by watching. "Dominic, Laura, Daniel and Susanna." The words rang out in the silence, and four teenagers stepped sheepishly in. They didn't keep their eyes lowered from the adult, they didn't have their hands clasped in front of them. One of the boys had his hands in his pockets! Yep, they were new alright. "Can Emily, Harrison Johns, Harrison Lang and Eleanor please follow me, the rest of you prepare for your next lesson. Thank you." The adult continued, and I dutifully got up, although I hated her using my full name. I preferred Ellie.

I didn't look up the whole way over the room, as was the etiquette, but as soon as the adult turned round I sneaked my first look at the back of the new kids' heads. The two girls were of a similar height, the slightly shorter one with straight brown hair to her shoulders, and the taller with wavy blonde hair of the same length. The two boys contrasted in almost every aspect, short vs. tall, brunette vs. blonde, and scrawny vs. well built. But that was about all I could fathom because we entered the adults' room and I had to look at the floor once again. Then into another room, one I'd only ever been in once, on my first day here, but I remembered it well. It was the only completely empty room there was in this place, and knowing that gave it a hopeless, trapped feel.

"You may raise your eyes." The adult said, and we did, but with scarcely hidden surprise. An adult had _never_ ordered us to go against a solid rule before. The moment I looked at her face I wondered if it had been a test of obedience, and if I'd be punished for going against a main rule, but it didn't seem to be so. "In your tutoring you may go against any rule that you wish, _in order to teach our ways and communicate with these children thoroughly._ Any misuse of this allowance will be severely punished. I will not explain any more. Emily, Daniel. Harrison Johns, Laura. Harrison Lang, Susanna. Eleanor, Dominic." she said, and just like that, I was assigned to my tutee. I didn't wonder at the fact we'd all been paired up boy-girl, as it was what normally happened, to make sure we 'socialised with all peers in the correct fashion'. That basically means that _hopefully_ we'd be so used to working with the opposite sex that it wouldn't occur to us to flirt or have boyfriends or anything of the sort. And it worked- for most of us. _Cough-Lauren Barker-cough._ But the boy I was paired up with- Dominic- seemed a bit annoyed at having to be tutored by a girl, which in turn annoyed me. But I tried to overcome it by remembering how horrible _my_ first day was, and put on a smile as the adult left the room.

"Hey, I'm Eleanor. Welcome to the Piano."


	2. Chapter 2

_Taurus:_

_Today is a good day for dredging up old hobbies. Ever given anything up, or forgotten how to do something? Now is the time to try it again. Also, you will meet someone new and immediately dislike them. Don't let this overthrow you- they will change your life. Keep them close._

He was the most stuck-up, annoying, ridiculous boy I had ever met.

"No, you're not allowed up there. What if someone sees you?" I shouted as he climbed up above the limit line.

"Well… all the kids are at break, there's no-one here _to_ see me." He called back down, an annoying smirk on his face as his blonde hair fell over his eyes. I wished he'd fall and break his neck.

"But you're not _allowed_ up there. It's the rules!" I was getting frustrated now.

"Rules are made to be broken!" He shouted back down, climbing even higher. He'd gone over the top now. _No_ outside sayings were allowed. I had to get him to come down, and if I couldn't do it by shouting, I'd have to…

"Following me up? I thought you weren't _allowed_ to." He teased as I tentatively raised myself higher off the floor than I'd been in over nine years.

"You need to come down, before an adult catches you!" I said. I was about twice my body height off the floor now, and extremely shaky.

"I really don't care." He said, watching me intently as I searched for another foot-hold.

"How did he get up this thing?" I muttered to myself as I reached a complete dead end.

"Above, to your right." He said, and I saw the tiniest end of a screw sticking out of the wood.

"I'll never hold on to that!" I stayed exactly where I was.

"Yes you will, I did! Just try it, go on…" He made it into a challenge and I was determined to prove myself, even though I knew it was a stupid thing to do. I reached up and hooked the tips of my fingers into the groove on the screw, and held on as tightly as I could, and released my other hand.

"Hey, are you ok? I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have made you do that, I just thought because I did it you'd be able to… but I spose you haven't climbed anything for ages 'cause of these bloody _rules_… I'm _really_ sorry, are you hurt or anything? Because-"

"Please shut up. My head hurts." I groaned, rolling onto my side, facing away from him.

"Well, you fell about three metres onto a solid wood floor… or… well, I suppose yesterday I would've called it a few inches…" He trailed off; sulking over the process we'd all had to go through to enter the piano- the one that had made us just a few centimetres tall. You had to do it when you joined the colony, painful as it was, because otherwise you simply wouldn't _fit_, socially and physically.

"Do you think anything's broken?" He asked in a quieter voice.

"No, I don't _think_ so." I said, slowly sitting up. And then I heard footsteps and an adult entered the room.

"What has happened here?" He shouted, taking in the scene of me sitting on the floor wincing in pain, and Dominic crouching next to me, leaning a little _too_ far over, in my opinion.

"I fell." I said, before Dominic could say anything disrespectful.

"You _fell?_" The adult repeated, incredulous. "And _how_ did you manage that?"

"I was up there…" I hoped I pointed the right way- judging direction whilst having to look at the floor is not an easy thing to do.

"You were _climbing!_ You _know_ what that means!" The adult shouted.

But then Dominic spoke. "Listen, it's my fault. I'm new here, and I was climbing up there, y'know, to have a bit of an explore. Ellie was telling me it was against the rules, but I wouldn't listen, so she came after me to try and stop me, and…yeah." Dominic said. I was surprised that he called me Ellie; he hadn't heard anyone else call me by that name before. Just Eleanor.

The adult seemed to be controlling his breathing. He sounded very angry. "You will both attend detention at lunch-break today, in the lower chamber." Then he walked away, leaving us there. I had a million questions to ask Dominic, but he got there first.

"Why don't you ever look at them?" He frowned at me.

"It's disrespectful."

"But it's not disrespectful up there…" He pointed upwards, and I honestly couldn't remember ever having to do it in my outside life before, so I believed him.

"Dominic-"

He winced. "Please call me Dom. I hate Dominic."

"Dom, then… thank you. You didn't have to do that; it would've been easier for me to take the blame." I lied.

"No it wouldn't. They explained _some_ rules to me, and I know about banishment." He said kindly.

"Why did you call me Ellie?" I asked him.

"Would you rather be called Eleanor?" He asked.

"No-"

"Exactly." He smiled, and somehow the subject seemed closed. His words were too cryptic for me, as was his smile, but I didn't say anything else as I didn't want to seem impertinent. He got up and held his hand out to me, and I gratefully took it and stood up, still a little shaky.

"Sooo… detention, huh?" The way he spoke was so different to what I was used to, but it somehow reminded me of my outside life, so I didn't mind.

"Yes. It's nothing, really. You just sit and write lines." I'd never had a detention before, no-one that I knew had ever had one, but the adults had told us what it involved when they'd brought it into play.

"Lines. Isn't that a bit childish?" He asked, starting to sound a bit like Lauren when she complained about the lack of good-looking boys in this place.

"Well… I don't know. I've never had a detention before." I decided just to tell him the truth. Making up lies is so much harder.

"Really? You've _never_ done anything wrong, ever?"

"Well, no. If you do, you get banished, so I haven't."

"But… what do you have to do to get a detention then? If everything that you could ever do wrong earns you banishment, what's small enough for just a detention?" He managed to organize my thoughts into one sentence, and the more I repeated it in my head, the sillier the whole concept of 'detention' sounded.

"I honestly don't know."

"If you ask me, this place seems more like a prison than a rescue camp." He said, carelessly. I stared at him, shocked.

"_You can't say stuff like that!_ They'll _hear_ you!" I hissed.

"But it's the truth! Come on, I've been here _one day_ and I've managed to realise it, but the rest of you are still believing the stories! You still think this is a good place to be!" He wasn't keeping his voice down, and I was getting worried. But I knew it was all the truth- the truth we were forbidden to think.

"_Please_ keep your voice down. We're not that stupid- we all know. But there's nothing- _nothing_ we can do. So we just go along with it, hoping that if we forget the truth, the lies'll make us happy. You can't go along reminding everyone of what they've forgotten is right- it'll be agony for them. Please, just go along with this. It's your only choice."

"I don't like it."

"It's your only choice." I repeated, wishing the words would sink in before someone else came along.

"I still don't like it." He sighed. "I can't stay here."

"Just give it a try. Please, Dom?" I tried using his name, seeing if that would convince him, and it seemed to work.

"Okay. I'll give it a month. That's officially how long I have to settle in, anyway. And when I break one of the rules after that, they'll treat me just like everyone else, and I'll be out of here. Banishment's got to be better than this place."

"You don't know what banishment is if you think that." I said quietly, begging him with my eyes to change his mind.

He sighed again. "Well… a month. Then we'll see. That okay?"

I decided that was the best I was going to get. "Okay."

The bell went. "So. Where to next, then?" His voice suddenly took on a much lighter tone, and we were back to the normal, rule-abiding world we were supposed to be in as hundreds of children entered the corridor on their way to and from the front of the piano.

"We don't have any more lessons today, so this way, I suppose." I mumbled, joining the stream of people coming away from the front. He followed me, and our previous conversation floated up and out of the piano we called our city, to evaporate in the dirty air of the classroom that was our continent.


	3. Chapter 3

_Taurus:_

_Don't let anything get you down today. Lots of bad things are about to happen and you need to be prepared, but if you get affected by anything you will lose track of what you really want. And look after the people that are important to you- they will need your reassurance in these hard times._

I slid slowly and cautiously down the rafter to the lower chamber, with Dom copying my every move in order not to fall. I'd never been down here before, and hoped I was going the right way. When we had both dropped to the floor, Dom told me he could hear voices, and it was my turn to follow him as he went in the direction of the noise. As we got closer I could hear it too, and eventually we rounded a corner into what couldn't be mistaken for anything but a detention room.

Rough blocks of wood were set out to create desks and chairs, just like I'd imagined the outside classroom to look like when I heard some outside kids having a detention in the music room. Dom and I were each assigned a desk and chair, handed a pen and some paper, and told to write 'I will obey' over and over and over, until we'd filled the entire page.

Dom set at once to work, but I couldn't think straight. Why were we in here? Why not just banish us, or let us off? Dom's controversial words from earlier had set my mind going, and I couldn't concentrate on such an insignificant detail as writing lines. The adult seemed to notice this, and barked a sharp reminder across the room. Dom briefly looked up at my empty page, and then we both continued to (or in my case, started to) write the three hypnotic words over and over again.

When a quarter of my page was full, I heard the adult leave the room. I didn't dare look up, and neither did Dom, for once. But then I heard footsteps coming back towards us; more than one pair. This time I _did_ look up, and to my surprise the other three additions to our colony entered the room. Laura, Daniel, and… Susanna, I think her name was. Behind them were their respective tutors- like I was to Dom- and bringing up the rear was… _Carys? _What was she doing here? By now Dom and I had fully abandoned our lines and were staring openly at the newcomers, who had all sat down and were also being allocated a piece of paper and a pen each. I tried to catch Carys' eye, but she didn't look at me. And then the silence fell again, and all I could hear was breathing and the scratching of pens on paper. I could feel the adult looking at me so I lowered my gaze and got back to work.

When a half of my page was full, another adult entered the room. I was aware that she was part of the senior group of adults in our colony by the feeling of power she brought into the room, but how high up in the ranks I wasn't sure. She and the other adult exchanged a few whispered words that I couldn't make out, and then the first adult left while she remained.

When two-thirds of my page was full, Dom sneezed. The sound echoed around the room and by the third time it had repeated itself it no longer sounded like a sneeze. The adult frowned.

When I had filled my whole page up I very noisily threw my pen down and slouched a little on my stool. I no longer wondered why I was here, or even bothered to think about the unfairness and strangeness of it. I just wanted out. Dom finished a minute later, (he must have small writing!) and exactly copied my action, throwing the pen down and so forth. And I think the bored and frustrated look on his face would've been a mirror image of mine. The adult walked slowly across the room to where we were both sitting, and slowly lifted the pieces of paper from our make-shift desks. Her eyes scanned across each paper, and seeming satisfied, she replaced them without a word. I kept my eyes lowered, not wanting to cause any trouble that might keep me here for longer. Dom stared her defiantly in the face the whole time.

We had to wait until every other person was finished before she finally spoke.

"Well. You all know why you're here." She said in a cold, emotionless tone. Dom and one of the girls- Laura, I think- made very obvious noises of disagreement, which the adult ignored. "You have all broken colony rules, but as you are all on trial, you have all suffered a primary punishment." she continued, and immediately I recognised that Carys was _not_ on trial, and _not_ tutoring any of the new arrivals. So why was _she_ in 'primary punishment'?

"You will need to do better at listening to your tutors. Or you will need to do better at tutoring." She indicated me and the other three tutors. "Or you will need to re-think your arrangements." She indicated Carys, and a hundred questions filled my mind. "You are now free to go." She finished, and we all rushed to get out of there. Well, all except Carys who remained seated. I had to find out what was going on, so I hesitated at the doorway, not sure whether to risk another detention or not for the truth. But I made my mind up to stay, and waved away Dom's questioning look as he passed me on his way out. _He_ didn't need to get into any more trouble.

"What're you doing?"

"_Shhh!_" I hissed. Apparently Dom had decided that a bit more trouble couldn't hurt _too_ much, and he was stood behind me, peering over my shoulder.

"Do you know her?" He lowered his whisper, following my command, until he was barely even breathing in my ear. I nodded in response.

"She's not tutoring, is she?" He breathed, and I shook my head. "I see." He said, and was finally silent.

The adult was staring at Carys with disdain, and Carys looked close to tears as she kept her eyes on the desk. I dearly wanted to run in and _do_ something, but quite _what_ I would've done I wasn't sure about. After about a minute the adult spoke, her sharp voice piercing the air.

"You have not given an alibi. I am finding it hard to trust you."

Carys didn't say a word.

"You have been punished time and time again, and there is still no evidence, no _alibi!_" The adult's voice had grown higher throughout the sentence until the last word became a shriek. She advanced on Carys, the noise of her footsteps unbearably loud in the ringing silence- _clip clop clip clop…_ When she was stood right in front of Carys' desk she stopped, glaring beams of fire onto my best friend.

"I am ashamed of you."

Her hand moved so quickly I didn't see it coming, and neither did Carys. But the noise of the slap rung out like the footsteps, and I gasped sharply and somehow my hand found its way around Dom's wrist.

Carys' tears now started to overflow as the pain kicked in, and I felt my own eyes start to well up in sorrow, helplessness and _anger_. As her sobs filled the silence Dom managed to loosen my tight grip with his soothing fingers and gently placed his warm hand in mine, squeezing ever so slightly. Which helped, a bit.

"You are a disgrace to this colony." The adult started to speak again, her voice chipped with disgust. "You were guilty until proven innocent, and now your time is up. You _will_ be banished, but not until you have fixed the mess you've made, and not until your example has taught the other children a valuable lesson. Now get out of my sight."

Dom quickly pulled me back with him into the shadows, because Carys couldn't have been more eager to get out of that room. She practically ran, knocking the stool over as she got up and racing to the door to get away from the cruel adult who was still standing there. Thankfully, in her rush, she didn't spot Dom and I in our barely concealed hiding place, which gave us a chance to get out before the adult caught us. We scrambled up the rafters, a much harder task than trying to come down, and finally made it to the top, out of breath and with our hands still tightly clasped together.

"My god." Dom said once he had sat us both down, but I couldn't bring myself to speak. "You okay?" He asked, giving my hand another squeeze, and I just nodded in reply. To see Carys in such an awful predicament, even though I didn't yet know the whole story, was too horrible to try and speak afterwards. I couldn't look at Dom, either, and kept my eyes lowered.

He was staring at me with a frown on his face, biting his lip. "Nothing like this has ever happened before, huh? You seem really shocked at the…brutality of that." He said, turning his question into a statement, which I was glad about, because it meant I didn't have to answer. "Me, on the other hand… horrible as it was, I could've _kind of_ expected it from these people. They're all bad. I don't believe no-one's done anything about it yet!" He was getting worked up again, and I had to calm him down in case anyone heard.

"Anyone who _did_ revolt was banished, and quickly forgotten. That's the whole point of it, Dom." I sighed, closing my eyes. "Maybe... maybe what they're doing _is_ wrong, but it's got to be better than trying to make it out there alone. That's why we're all so _well-behaved_, as you might put it."

He didn't reply.


	4. Chapter 4

_Taurus:_

_Don't get yourself into any trouble._

I was once again sat at my normal place, at the back, as the class outside filtered in. We could just about hear their footsteps through the front of the piano, and the scraping of the chairs on the classroom floor sent vibrations through the wood we were sitting on. Faintly we could hear the teacher's voice.

"So, presentation day today! We need to get through these quickly please, so absolutely no chatting in between performances. Who's going first? Beth? Alright, so what are you going to do for us? Piano? Good good, well take your time, begin whenever you want."

As soon as the outside teacher had revealed that the piano was about to be played, the scramble had begun. I was halfway down the corridor before I remembered Dom.

I did a very ungraceful about turn and headed back to the front of the piano, banging into everyone as they ran in the opposite direction to me. When I reached the corner, Dom seemed to have only just registered everyone had left and was dragging himself _excruciatingly _slowly out of the front room.

"Dom! Come _on_!" I hissed, grabbing his sleeve and tugging him along with me. He started to run too, but it was still too _slow_…

"Err… why? Seriously, I thought you were supposed to be mentoring me…"

"Don't get cheeky. Dom, someone from outside is about to _play_ the piano. _The piano we are living in!_" I said, taking frequent, shallow breaths as we were now sprinting to try and catch up with everyone else. I glanced at Dom and he seemed to have worked it out.

"So… where are we going?" He asked, his expression becoming more and more worried.

"Into… the legs… of… the piano…" I was becoming more and more out of breath, and the others _still_ weren't in sight.

"It's… the part… where the noise isn't… so loud…" I panted, taking a corner far too quickly and almost flying round as I skidded dangerously close to the wall.

When we reached the channel where the legs started, the first note was played. We fell to our knees, and I almost went tumbling head-first down inside the hollow leg of the piano, but Dom caught me just in time, and we scrambled to our feet to get down to the more sound-proof area. I went first, trying to show Dom how you slid down the rafters, tipping your body to steer, trying not to fall off because that meant injury- getting more serious depending on how high up you fell from. But a fall like that _had _to be better than going completely deaf from the incessant noise coming from the hammers and strings above.

We finally dropped down to the bottom, just as the adults called out the last names in the register. Dom took in the cramped lines of children and the adults walking down to tick people off the list, and whispered to me "Blimey, it's just like a fire bell at school!"

I looked quizzically at him; I had absolutely no idea what he was on about.

"You know… when the fire alarm goes off, and you all have to line up, and… hang on a sec. Exactly how long have you been here?" He continued, and as he asked the question I realised why I didn't know what a… 'Fire bell' was.

"Nine years."

"And how old are you now?"

"Fourteen."  
"Oh. _Oh…_" He was working something out in his head. "So… you never went to school before you came here?"

"Actually I did… for two weeks. I was hit by a car walking home after my second ever Friday at school…" I repeated the same sentence I'd had to repeat so many times in my nine years in this place, and he seemed surprised that I didn't show any emotion when I told him how I'd almost been killed.

"I'm sorry…" He said, looking sincere, but I smiled. I'd forgotten that outside people used to apologize when you told them about something sad. It seemed ridiculous now, in this different life.

"You're smiling…?" He asked, looking thoroughly bewildered, but I couldn't bring myself to explain. It was something he'd just have to learn in time, like I'd done. You couldn't tutor someone on how to _forget_.

"Don't worry, it's… it's complicated." I lowered my voice and my eyes as an adult came near, and I saw Dom do the same. So he _was_ learning… just very slowly. The other three new kids had seemed to settle in fine, but Dom seemed to be the rebellious one. Well, if he wanted to stay here, he had better abide by the rules.

"Names?" The adult barked.

"Ellie - Eleanor Lloyd" I said, quickly correcting myself as I knew the adults wouldn't know me as Ellie.

"Dom Thomas-Howard. _Dominic_ Thomas-Howard." Dom slipped more than I had, and we exchanged sneaky glances, trying not to smile at the other's mistake.

"And why were you late?" The adult peered down at us, and our eyes were fixed even more firmly to the floor.

"I forgot to tell Dom- Dominic about this… erm… procedure." I said warily, hoping that owning up would make things better. I was completely in the unknown here; I had never had to own up to anything before simply because I'd never done anything wrong before.

The adult sighed in contempt, and said "Hopeless. Detention again today, then." before walking briskly off, as if he wanted nothing more than to get away from us. I glanced at Dom- a week had passed since our last detention but we fully remembered having to write those three words over and over again- _I will obey. I will obey. I will obey. I will obey. I will obey._ Just the thought of writing the short yet imposing sentences repeatedly was enough to fill you with dread. But I was also curious- maybe this detention would mean I could find more out about Carys?

We slid down the rafters yet _again_, on our way to the detention room. I'd almost forgotten how to get there but Dom seemed to remember well enough, and we were soon seated at the make-shift desks once again. This time it was just us two- it seemed the other three new kids had settled in well enough. I smiled inwardly at our defiance, something I never would've done before Dom arrived. Maybe _he_ was changing _me,_ rather than the other way round. But at that point my train of thought was interrupted as a girl I hadn't seen for a week shuffled slowly in and sat down at the front, 3 rows in front of me. Dom and I exchanged concerned glances as Carys immediately began to write, as it seemed she wasn't doing lines, like we were. The adult at the front was eyeing us suspiciously, but I kept glancing up at my former best friend to try and catch a glimpse of what she was writing.

After about ten minutes, Carys laid her pen down. The noise, although quiet, echoed around the room just like Dom's sneeze had done last time, and my head shot up to see what would happen next. A sidelong glance told me Dom was just as curious.

The adult had picked up Carys' piece of paper and was reading it, a disgusted expression on his face. After a few minutes, in which no line-writing was done by either me or Dom, the adult slammed the paper down on Carys' desk and hissed

"Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting, girl. But, I suppose its good enough for the likes of you, you hopeless scum. Now, why don't you have a practice, eh? Read it out to these two and see what they think."

The adult smiled- something I'd never seen happen before. But it was a nasty smile, and just added to my piling doubt that something here was _seriously_ wrong.

Carys got up, trembling, and faced Dom and I, eyes fixed firmly on the piece of paper she was holding. I could tell how much her hands were shaking by the way the paper seemed to flutter, as if caught in a gentle breeze. Dom and I exchanged very worried glances, but the adult snapped his fingers at us. "You two. You will listen to this, and you will _not say a word_. Understand?"

Dom and I nodded mutely, eyes lowered, and Carys began.

"_I, Carys Josephine Scott, am hereby to be h-hanged for_

_disloyalty. I have been communicating with someone_

_from the outside- my father-"_

"Take that bit out. We don't care who you've been talking to." The adult interrupted, and then did that horrible smile thing again. "…Do carry on."

"_Someone f-from the outside, and have revealed our_

_lifestyle and living area. I am ashamed of my actions_

_and would like to present myself as an example to_

_everyone here- what I have done is n-not acceptable_

_and I think I fully d-deserve my p-p-punishment…"_

"_Pull yourself together, girl!_" The adult shouted, snatching the piece of paper away as Carys broke down into hysterics.

I jumped up from my seat, abandoning my lines once and for all, and ran over to where Carys lay on the floor in a heap.

"Get back to your desk _at once!_ This girl is a lying traitor, and you will have nothing to do with her, understand?" The adult had gripped my arm and was attempting to drag me away from my best friend.

"Get off of her!" A voice I knew shouted, and the pressure on my arm was released. I looked around to find Dom struggling with the adult, battling for dominance.

"Dom! Don't, you'll just get into more trouble!" I shouted, surprised that my reaction wasn't bigger. A month ago, before Dom had arrived, I would never have dared to even _touch_ an adult, let alone fight with one!

"Get her… out of here…" Dom said, clearly losing. He was talking about Carys though, and even though I was worried about him, she was in a worse state. I managed to convince her to walk, and we got as far away from the room as we could.

"Carys… are you ok?" I asked once we had stopped, underneath the area that would take us up to ground level.

She wouldn't answer, just kept shaking her head when I tried to coax it out of her. In the end I just suggested we get back to ground level.

But then I heard the most terrible noise, almost a match to the sound of the car's breaks as it swerved to avoid me (in vain) all those years ago. Dom was screaming.


	5. Chapter 5

_Taurus:_

_The time has come to help others. Hard as it may seem, you must now forget about yourself and look after those in need. You will be rewarded for it, soon enough._

I knew I probably couldn't do anything, but I had to… do _something_. So I sent Carys up to the ground floor on her own, and told her to hide somewhere. She nodded as if she'd been planning to do that anyway, and set off, while I ran back down the corridor. I slotted into the little niche by the doorway that Dom and I had hidden in when we were watching Carys, the last time we'd had a detention.

Dom, it seemed, had been over-powered, and he was now half sitting, half lying on the floor, propped up against the wall. The adult was knelt next to him, and the thing that was causing Dom so much pain bizarrely seemed to be the adult's fingers poking him in the chest. The adult seemed to be pressing moderately hard, but the intensity of the screams coming from Dom's mouth suggested to me that something else was going on here. Dom seemed to be thinking the same thing.

As the adult finally stopped the torture and leaned back, Dom managed to get a few words out. "Why… does it hurt s… so much?" His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and he was breathing heavily.

"Haven't you worked it out yet?" The adult mocked, delivering another cruel jab to the same spot. He began to laugh as Dom looked up at him in disgust, before squeezing his eyes shut with the pain once again. "You were stabbed on the day you turned fifteen, correct? Right… here." He nudged the spot again, causing Dom to wince.

"Y-yeah, but… shouldn't it have healed by now? And how do you know about that anyway? I haven't told anyone here about it…" Dom said, seeming to recover slightly from his want of answers.

The adult laughed. "So many questions! Well… how do I know? We know everything there is to know about you, Dominic James Howard."

"'We'…?" Dom had picked up on the fact that he'd only asked how that _one particular_ adult knew, yet the adult had answered with the plural- 'we'.

"Ignorant boy. _We_. The adult system. Surely you know by now that this place isn't as innocent as it seems. We are all, and all are one." The adult answered monotonously .

Incredibly, Dom smiled. "One for all and all for one…" He muttered to himself.

At this, the adult grew livid. Another sharp jab to Dom's chest was accompanied by the words "_No_ outside sayings allowed! Hasn't your hopeless tutor taught you anything?"

I gasped at the harsh words, and had to duck back into the shadows as the adult turned round. I'm surprised he heard the noise over Dom's agonizing scream of pain.

"She's not hopeless…" Dom mumbled once he had recovered.

"What was that?" The adult challenged.

"She's not hopeless." Dom repeated, his voice stronger.

'Bless him…' I thought, but I was worried that his defiance wouldn't do him any good.

"No? Not hopeless? She is, and I'll tell you what else. You, trying to escape from this place. You seem to have worked out quite a few of our twisted ways by now… work this one out. The children here, all of them, they're begging to stay. This is their only hope of survival. So what do we do to them? We banish them, which basically means death. Of course, they don't know that, but that's not the point… So. Seeing as you want to get out of here so badly, do you expect us to grant your wish?" Dom weakly, yet hopefully, nodded. "No! We'll trap you in here as long as we possibly can, torturing you with the pain of knowing you'll never escape, never be free… even when you're begging for it, we won't allow you to die. Do you get it now? You're never getting out of here. _Ever_." The adult accompanied this speech with regular jabs to Dom's chest, and by the end of it Dom was almost unconscious, his head rolled to one side and his eyes only half open.

"Now, because I'm a kind man-" Dom weakly snorted in disagreement. "-I'll answer the other question you asked me. 'Shouldn't it have healed by now?' I think it was. And you were referring to your stab wound. Well, I'll tell you. You would've died if it hadn't been your birthday, that day. You know that, don't you, boy?"

"Wh…wha-" Dom was so out of it that even if he had known I doubt he would've remembered in his state.

"Oh for Pete's sake… don't tell me I have to explain _that_ to you…" The adult breathed out heavily in contempt. "Fine. Well, you know this is a rescue camp, yes? Well, obviously we can't rescue absolutely _everyone_ who gets injured, or we'd be far too full. We haven't got enough rebellious children in here already to balance those kinds of numbers out with banishments. So, we made a rule. We only take children in that have been injured on their birthdays. That way, it reduces the numbers we have to save, and it also means that anyone who joins us can have a new start as soon as they have a new age. Makes it easy to count how long they've been here, too. You follow?

"Well, once we take you in, we re-size you straight away. The re-sizing also heals the wound, so no more blood is lost. But, the wound remains there. For example, if someone had broken a leg or an arm, it would be alright because their bones would heal. However, if someone had been completely mauled and left so badly disfigured that they would never heal, even with the help of no blood loss, they are no use to us."

I knew about this. When the car hit me I broke a leg and two ribs, and was bleeding all over the place. I can't remember what happened next, I suppose it'll always be a mystery how they got me here, but once I was re-sized the pain and the blood was gone, and I was lying in a bed for a couple of days, just waiting painlessly for my bones to heal so I could get up and walk. But I didn't know it applied to everyone, I'd always thought it was just me, so I'd never told anyone. But then again, I suppose that's what everyone thought, which is why I've never heard anyone else talking about it. These were mind games.

The adult continued. "In your case, Dominic, no bones were broken, so you were a quick admission. But, the wound is still here, and extremely painful, if any force is put on it."

I knew about this too. When my leg had broken, the splintered bone had cut through my shin, and although the bone had healed, the skin and flesh was still missing, and if it ever got nudged I was in excruciating pain for a couple of seconds. But I'd never dream that anyone would cause me pain like that on purpose, as this adult was doing to Dom…

"So effectively, you have a massive hole in your chest. And unfortunately, though we saved you the pain at the time, it still hurts, doesn't it?" He poked Dom again- as if Dom had forgotten what he was talking about. "You children are the living dead of the outside world. You would _all_ be dead if it wasn't for us and the coincidence that you were wounded on your birthdays. So count yourself lucky to be here, Dominic, and don't you ever think about rebelling again." The adult got up and started to walk towards the door- towards my hiding place. I shrunk back into the shadows, hoping he wouldn't spot me.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. Your month is now up. If you break any rules from now on, you _will_ be banished. And you know what that really means now, don't you?" An evil chuckle. "And don't think the fact that you are- or once were royalty will change _a thing_." With that, the adult walked swiftly past my hiding place, still chuckling to himself. _Royalty_? Just another mystery to add to my list…

Once I was sure the coast was clear, I ran over to Dom as fast as I could.

"Dom! Dom… Oh no, are you even still awake? Tell me you're still awake. Dom, speak!" I turned his head towards mine, and his eyes were closed. I bit my lip. I knew how bad the pain from a wound could be, and that adult had literally been bruising Dom's stab wound. I couldn't imagine _that_ much pain.

"You poor thing…" I muttered as I let his head roll back onto his shoulder. I had no idea what to do. I couldn't go and get an adult, because it had _been_ an adult that had committed the crime, and the way he'd described them as an 'adult system' made me think that getting _another_ one wouldn't be such a good idea. So what else was there to do? I didn't really want to leave Dom, with the possibility that he might be found by an adult and taken somewhere I couldn't get to. So I stayed.

Dom didn't wake up for a while, and when he did he couldn't speak. I held him, being very careful not to touch his wound, and he responded. After about twenty minutes, where we miraculously weren't caught, Dom spoke.

"Ellie, that you?"

"Yeah… you okay?"

"No."

A pause.

"Where are we?"

"In the detention room."

"We need to get out of here."

"Can you walk?"

"No."

Another pause.

"Help me up."

"I thought you said you couldn't walk!" I helped him up anyway.

"Yeah, but we need to get out of here. S'more important we do _that_ than have me in pain. I'll bear it."

"Are you s-"

"Yes."

A pause.

"Ok, let's go." He seemed determined to get out, but with every step he was grimacing in pain.

"You want a rest?"

"I'll have one once we're on the ground floor. That's neutral territory." He was talking about the fact that the corridor we were now on belonged to the adults and us kids could only come down here with permission. However, the ground floor was open to anyone, since it lead to most of the main rooms. I didn't like his use of the word 'territory'.

"Dom, this isn't a war."

"Yes it is."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it _is._"

"No, it's…" I sighed. "_How_ exactly is it a war?"

"S'a mind war."

I considered that for a few seconds. "Yes, I think you're right."

"Told you so." He said, and when I looked at him he was smiling slightly.

We made slow progress down the corridor until we reached the rafters.

"You sure you're up to climbing? We could find somewhere to hide down here if you don't think you can-"

"Hark at you, promoting climbing! Few weeks ago and you were shouting at me to 'get down!'" He grinned at me, and reached for the first rafter, the grin replaced by a grimace as his sore wound was stretched out.

"You're still weak, and that must be so painful…"

"I'll be fine. Seriously, I'll rest easier up there that I will down here. Help me…" He was reaching for a rafter that would be too high up without stretching, and I understood that he didn't want to cause himself too much pain. I gave him a leg-up, and started to follow him, helping him where he needed it.

About halfway up: "Talk to me, Ellie. It distracts me from the pain."

"Um… ok…" I was stuck in the awkward situation you get when someone asks you to talk and your mind immediately blanks. "Um… oh, I was wondering, how come it didn't hurt when you were climbing up here last time we had a detention?" I picked what was probably the most un-important question, and the one I cared about the least. I mentally kicked myself for not uncovering any of the deeper mysteries when he'd given me such a perfect chance.

He laughed a bit though, which was good. "I suppose it's because it hadn't hurt for so long, and I was used to it. Maybe that bastard's just weakened my resistance to the pain by bloody poking it… oh sorry, does swearing offend you?" I'd gasped at the notorious 'b' word.

"No, I just… haven't heard that word in a while… made me jump…" I began to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Dom couldn't see the funny side.

"Stop laughing and give me a leg-up!"


End file.
